IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Louisville women's basketball team's road back to the Final Four will take a hostile turn at 9:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday in the NCAA Tournament's second round when the third-seeded Cardinals visit sixth-seeded Iowa, which will have the comforts of home and the backing of a loud crowd on its side.

U of L (31-4) played extremely well in defeating No. 14 seed Idaho 88-42 on Sunday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but Iowa, with a home crowd of 5,810 cheering them on, was also impressive in the nightcap, topping No. 11 Marist 87-65.

U of L forward Sara Hammond said the Cards accept the fact that even as a high seed, they must overcome the hurdle of playing a worse-seeded team on the road.

"It's the NCAA Tournament; it's win or go home," she said. "No matter where we're placed, no matter who we're playing, we've got to bring our 'A' game. … Coming into Iowa, playing on their home court, I think it's going to be a great ballgame."

Against Marist, Iowa (27-8) improved to 14-3 at home by having all five starters score in double figures — led by Theairra Taylor's 22 points and seven rebounds. Point guard Samantha Logic (11 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds) fell one rebound shy of her four near-triple-double of the season.

The Hawkeyes hit 12 3-pointers, including a career-high five by Taylor, and shot a season-best 57.1 percent from the floor.

Iowa's five starters all average between 14.4 and 12.4 points, and Logic is a reliable floor leader who averages 7.6 assists and 2.4 steals.

"They're a great basketball team," U of L coach Jeff Walz said. "(Logic) is just a very heady basketball player, understands the game and does a fantastic job of getting her team organized.

"… It's a ballclub that presents a lot of problems for us. We're going to have to defend extremely well (and) defend the 3-point line well."

Walz said playing the Hawkeyes on their home court will be a big challenge. But he pointed out that it's an advantage U of L has enjoyed before, including as a No. 5 seed, beating fourth-seeded Purdue 76-63 in the second round at the KFC Yum! Center last year — one of the noisiest crowds for a U of L game the past two years. And if the Cards win on Tuesday, they'll be back home this weekend for the regional rounds.

Walz is a proponent of eliminating all home sites at the tournament, although he doubts it'll happen anytime soon because attendance would suffer if all the games were at neutral sites.

"Is it a benefit? Of course it is," he said, praising Iowa's fans for their enthusiasm and knowledge of the game. "If it wasn't, teams wouldn't bid to host the first and second round. We've been on the positive side of that, too. Now we have to make sure we come out here and just play basketball and not worry about where the game's being played."

For the record, U of L looked more than comfortable as well at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. The Cards shot 71 percent in the second half and set school NCAA Tournament game records for points and margin of victory.

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.